1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to animal training and amusement devices, and more particularly, to the design and construction of a ball-throwing device which rewards and resets automatically without human intervention.
2. Prior Art
There are a wide variety of devices available to train animals. Some devices will automatically throw balls for retrieval. Others are designed to automatically reward the animal with food.
Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,611,996; 2,796,045 and 3,204,608. The '996 patent to Wegner teaches a ball-throwing device which when activated by the animal automatically throws a ball for the animal to chase. However, this is the extent of its capabilities. There is no rewarding mechanism, nor is there an automatic reset mechanism. The device must be reset by hand before its next use.
The '045 patent to Breland teaches a device which has the animal perform a task which results in the automatic reward of the animal. The device is also capable of resetting automatically. However, this is a device designed primarily for chickens and does not throw a ball and is not useable by dogs.
Although adaptable for use by other animals, this device has other drawbacks. There is required only a single, simple act by the animal of jumping onto a platform. It does not teach the animal to chase after a ball and retrieve it to the place from which it was thrown. Thus the animal does not get a significant amount of exercise from the use of the device, nor does it learn an activity known to provide great amusement to animals, especially dogs, namely fetching a ball.
The '608 patent to Snitz teaches an automatic feeding device which will automatically reset. However, the device merely requires the performance of a simple activating task by the animal and does not incorporate any ball-throwing capability or requirement of return of a ball.
However, there are no devices presently available which incorporate all of the features of ball-throwing capability, automatic reward capability, and automatic reset (i.e., reset by the animal) capability so that the device is capable of repeated operation without the necessity of human intervention.